It Won't Kill You
by theformalweather
Summary: Jean has always been content with things as they are. That being said, he's not a fan of trying new things. Sasha, however, is as adventurous as they come. How Sasha always manages to convince him to try things, he'll never know.


oneshot for jeansasha week day one! the prompt was "firsts". i had to get it out of my system, and figured i'd post it here a day early since i haven't posted writing anywhere in a long time. please fav or review if you have time! hope you get some enjoyment out of this little self-indulgent mess.

* * *

I

"Come _on_, Jean, just try it. One little bite. It won't kill you." Sasha was practically shoving her pizza in his face, but Jean was on the defensive. No way was he eating that. Who the hell puts pineapple on pizza?

"Absolutely not. Get it out of my face," Jean said, leaning as far back as he could without knocking his chair out from under himself.

He would swear Sasha just invented the abomination that she was scarfing down if it wasn't apparently on this place's menu beforehand. It was a small pizza place just a few miles from their university; Jean, Sasha, Eren, Mikasa, Armin and Marco usually came here to eat after classes every Friday. Unfortunately for him, it was just the two of them today due to the others staying behind to get an extra hour of studying in before their final exam in some advanced class that Sasha and Jean weren't in. Biochemistry? Quantum physics? Something fucked up like that.

"_Fine_," Jean said dramatically after Sasha stayed silent for three whole minutes. Apparently she was extra passionate about this particular pizza topping and Jean rejecting it was a major offense. "I probably won't die."

Sasha immediately gave up her fake pout and reached for her pizza box and handed Jean a slice. The second-to-last slice, specifically. He gave up just in time, because god knows Sasha Braus wouldn't hand over the last slice of pizza if her life depended on it. She was so insistent on him giving it a chance, however, that she may have just ordered a whole new box if it came down to that.

"You're gonna like it. Promise," she said as Jean inspected the slice with a doubtful look on his face.

He picked one single chunk of pineapple off and popped it in his mouth for further investigation. After ten seconds, he announced that it tasted like pineapple.

"Yeah," Sasha said in her matter-of-fact voice, "And the rest tastes like pizza. You like pineapple and you like pizza. Take a real bite this time."

Jean did as he was told, knowing the sooner he got it over with the sooner he would never have to do it again. He mentally vowed that if it was indeed as disgusting as he thought it was going to be, he was going to spit it right in her face.

Of course, when was Jean ever right? He _did_ take a bite of it and it _didn't_ suck. He considered it carefully, as everyone knows food tasting is serious business. The more he chewed, the more he enjoyed it.

"You win, Braus. It's not half bad," He told her.

"And you didn't even die," she pointed out, grabbing the last slice.

Maybe Sasha wasn't half bad, either.

* * *

II

Sasha's new method of terrorizing Jean came merely five weeks later. The six of them had finally finished their first year of college, and were spending an entire week away at the beach to celebrate becoming sophomores and that nobody failed a single class despite Eren barely showing up on time for his semester final.

"Jean, you have to," Sasha begged, "No one else will."

Jean rolled his eyes, "Did you even ask?"

"They're all asleep!"

"That's because it's fucking midnight."

"Well, why are you awake then?"

"I already told you, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd take a walk. I didn't think you'd try to get me to jump off a fucking cliff, Sasha."

Sasha made an indignant noise and dismissed Jean's protests with a wave of her hand as if jumping off a cliff was a normal everyday activity that all people participate in.

"It's cliff diving, Jean. Tons of people do it. It's like a fifteen meter drop to the ocean, that's not so bad. It won't kill you."

"It might!" Jean shot back.

"There's like," she shrugged, "A very high chance we can jump off this cliff and not die and it'll be totally awesome."

"Why _the hell_ are you awake wanting to jump off cliffs at midnight?" He asked after a minute of staring at her, dumbfounded.

"Because you're not supposed to jump off the cliffs. But all the lifeguards go home after, like, eight." She said, nonchalant as ever.

"Are we even supposed to be on the beach right now?"

"Listen, Jean. There's no one here to tell us no. I'm gonna do it with or without you. Only different is, if you don't do it too I'm going to tell everyone what a wimp you are."

Jean smiled (when Sasha wasn't looking, of course) at her logic. He didn't doubt for a second that she would return to the hotel and tell everyone her tale of cliff diving badassery along with the story of himself being just too scared to join her. Of course, he didn't really care about that.

Jean, however, found it increasingly difficult to tell Sasha no.

"'Kay, whatever," he said as he peeled his shirt off and tossed it to the side. Sasha came prepared and was already wearing her swimsuit. "If we die, we die. Your fault."

"We most likely won't die," she said as she locked their arms together just to make sure he wouldn't abandon her at the last second. They aligned themselves with the very edge of the cliff and Sasha counted down from ten, looking more excited with each digit. Jean was definitely fucking terrified.

When Jean's life flashed before his eyes during free-fall, there was a lot of freshman year college parties and total meltdowns on exam days and him punching Eren in middle school and even more of Mikasa punching him in high school and strangely enough, there was quite a bit of Sasha. From begging him to play house with her and Christa in preschool, to begging him to share his lunch with her in middle school, to begging him to tutor her in french in high school — he had a lot of memories of Sasha, apparently.

He was pretty sure he was dead until he heard Sasha break the surface of the water, screaming triumphantly. Jean just laughed.

"You didn't even die," she told him.

"Guess not."

Maybe he was even starting to love her. Just a little.

* * *

III

Sasha Braus was an absolute terror.

Jean had managed to avoid more life-threatening situations for _almost_ the rest of summer. Just a week before classes started back up, Sasha was yet again pursuing disaster.

"I have to! Some dude at the mall just gave me this pass for skydiving. Totally free. I can't just let it go to waste."

"Some guy just... gave it to you?" Eren questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he was begging people to take it off his hands. He said he bought it for him and his wife, but they chickened out at the last minute. I was the only person interested. Can you believe that?"

"Yes," Mikasa and Armin said at the same time.

"Sweet," Eren said with his usual enthusiasm, "I'll do it." He hopped up off the couch and snatched the pass out of Sasha's hand. His excitement disappeared after he read the details.

"These are for _today_? I have to be at home for my mom's birthday dinner. Mikasa and Armin will be there, too," he told her, "but hey, if you want, we'll totally do it another time. I'll pay for it, yeah?"

"Definitely!" She agreed, not losing any of her excitement. And of course, turned her attention to the only poor soul in the room that didn't seem to have plans.

"No fucking way, Braus." Jean deadpanned.

"What? It's just skydiving." Sasha argued.

Armin laughed, "Yeah, Jean. It's _just_ skydiving."

"All you have to do is jump out of a plane," Eren added.

Jean flipped the two of them off and Mikasa rolled her eyes. Sasha, however, didn't let up for a second.

"Come on, Jean. You know I wouldn't ask you if I didn't have to! The pass is for two people, I have to bring someone. Marco is still in his summer class or whatever, you're the only one left to ask!"

"Yeah, well, maybe I wanna go to Mrs. Jaegar's birthday dinner, too."

"You're not invited," Mikasa said.

"Why the hell not?" Jean asked, genuinely a bit offended.

"Because of the time you set the carpet in the living room on fire," Eren reminded him.

"That was in, like, eighth grade."

"Jean," Sasha put her hands together in a pleading motion, "Please do it! It won't be that bad at all. I swear it won't kill you."

After arguing back and forth for ten minutes, Eren bet a hundred bucks that Jean wouldn't do it. So here he is. And here Sasha is. About to jump out of a plane.

"We actually might die this time," Jean said as he did exactly what the instructor told him not to do and looked down.

"Probably not," Sasha said.

"But we might."

"We might."

The instructor counted down from ten and it all felt strangely familiar. Except the ocean was much closer last time than the ground was this time. Jean was pretty sure he might actually start crying any second now. Sasha wasn't scared at all.

When the instructor said to jump, they jumped. Jean himself was surprised he did it, but he did. Sasha was positively thrilled and screamed the whole way down. Jean was way too scared to make any sudden movements or open his mouth and also kinda concerned that he might swallow a bug or something.

Everything went better than expected. Their parachutes worked perfectly, no one swallowed a single bug, and Jean didn't even piss his pants. Take that, Eren.

"You didn't even die!" Sasha yelled, holding her hand up for a high-five.

Jean just laughed.

Maybe he loved her a lot.

* * *

IIII

Pizza Fridays from freshman year turned into Movie Fridays sophomore year. Stay at home movies, of course. Oblivious freshmen turned into broke sophomores that tried to save every penny.

Everyone but Sasha had bailed early to get some sleep before an early quiz tomorrow, leaving her and Jean in his apartment watching some pirate movie.

"You ever regret not taking all the challenging classes that Eren and them take?" Jean asked after Johnny Depp dropped some apparently hilarious one liner.

Sasha snorted. "Nope."

"Yeah, me neither."

They sat on the couch in silence for another five minutes before Jean got the courage to try a more direct approach, against his better judgment.

"Can I kiss you?"

Sasha was enthralled in the film, but that was enough to get her attention.

"_What?"_

"It won't kill you," Jean said.

"It won't?" She asked with a smirk.

"Probably not."

She stayed quiet for a moment, not breaking eye contact. Jean felt like he was going to throw up.

"Okay," she said finally.

And so he kissed her, somehow managing to pull it off without suffering spontaneous combustion.

He'd decided he was (probably) in love with her at some point between jumping off the cliff and hitting the ocean and after he'd confessed it to Eren and begged for advice, the only advice Eren had to offer was: "Dude, tell her before she really does get you killed." So he figured now was as good a time as any.

"You didn't even die," Jean pointed out.

Sasha just laughed.

Maybe, just maybe, she loved him, too.


End file.
